Americans
leave the United States
for different reasons, but on Thanksgiving Day it’s hard not to feel more
American than ever... wherever you are. We talk with American ex-patriots and
visitors in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Do
they try to celebrate Thanksgiving--with or without turkeys? How do they compare their own country with
the rest of the world? (This edition of To the Point will be pre-empted on KCRW by special holiday programming.)

FROM THIS EPISODE

Americans
leave the United States
for different reasons, but on Thanksgiving Day it’s hard not to feel more
American than ever... wherever you are. We talk with American ex-patriots and
visitors in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Do
they try to celebrate Thanksgiving--with or without turkeys? How do they compare their own country with
the rest of the world? (This edition of To the Point will be pre-empted on KCRW by special holiday programming.)

Thanksgiving Day is just another Thursday for most of the world, but it's still a powerful moment for Americans living abroad. Whatever their reasons for being out of the country, Thanksgiving means thinking about who they are and what matters most. We talk with Americans in Germany, Spain, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Do they try to celebrate the most uniquely American of holidays? Can they find turkeys? What do new friends and neighbors have to say? How do these Americans abroad compare their native country to the rest of the world?

The writer-director of the film Bobby is Emelio Estevez, who says he was trying to capture the spirit of change and promise that was cut short when Robert Kennedy was assassinated June 5, 1968. Estevez was allowed to shoot several scenes in the Ambassador Hotel after the wrecking ball was already doing its work.

The
day after Thanksgiving is traditionally America’s biggest shopping day, and
retailers are gearing up. Different strategies reflect a fact of life in
today’s America:
the gap in confidence between upper and middle-income wage-earners. Nation-wide big-box chain WalMart is but one example.